The XX Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2014 is less than a week away and Scotland is gearing up for a spectacular opening ceremony which will take place on the 23rd July at Celtic Park. The opening ceremony will see performances from the likes of Rod Stewart and Susan Boyle, along with many other musicians and singers performing throughout the ceremony.

The queens’ baton relay has been making its way around the world visiting the Commonwealth countries and in a short few days from the 20th to 22nd July the baton will arrive in host city, Glasgow. Following the arrival of the baton and the opening ceremony the following day, the event will commence over the next 10 days from the 23rd July to the 3rd August.

During the Commonwealth Games a whopping 6500 athletes will be competing for their chance to take home one of 261 medals up for grabs. There are 17 events throughout the games, 5 of which are para sport medal events. These include athletics, cycling, lawn bowls, weightlifting and athletics. The other sports in the event include judo, boxing, badminton, triathlon, gymnastics, hockey, table tennis, wrestling, netball, squash, rugby sevens and shooting. The Commonwealth Games are unique in their own way and have some interesting sports in comparison to the Olympic Games.

Athletes from across the Commonwealth, including Africa, America, Asia, the Caribbean and Oceana, will be gathering in Glasgow to take part. With over 6500 people coming to Scotland to take part there needs to be room for them to stay. The athletes village consists of 700 new homes along with an exclusive retail area, recreation area, dining hall and medical facilities to use during the games. Throughout the 10 day event an estimated 390,000 meals will be served in the 24 hour dining hall. 260,000 sofas, beds and other equipment has been bought up from the London Olympic village to kit out the new homes, all of which have been fitted with super fast fibre optic broadband to allow athletes to tweet, post and pin their commonwealth updates!

With so much effort gone into the relay, village and games itself, this spectacular event is expected to cost around £524m! The Commonwealth mascot is a colourful green thistle called Clyde who has been spotted during the baton relay and will no doubt be seen during the games cheering on the athletes. Keep an eye out across the SportsDirect.com blog and social media pages for updates and news during the Commonwealth Games!